THE STAR WORSHIPPERS OF MESOPOTAMIA. 241 



they honour the Baptist they are more closely related to us 

 than are the Jews and Moslems. Of course they deny that 

 they do not accept Jesus as a true Prophet, as they do all 

 those other articles of their belief, which they deem wisest or 

 safest to keep concealed. 



It remains to add a note regarding the supposed origin ot 

 their name Nasoreans. According to Petermann they them- 

 selves give this title only to those of their number who are 

 distinguished for character or knowledge. It doubtless is 

 connected with the Arabic o .L2J' and comes perchance like 

 it from Na^copatot, the early half-Christian sect of Syria. 



So that all our investigations end as we began, by finding 

 that the Sabeans "worship that which they know not," and 

 profess a creed whose origin is hidden from them and whose 

 elements, gathered from the four corners of the earth, are as 

 diverse as they are incongruous. And who is able after all 

 to classify these elements or among so much heterogeneous 

 debris dig down to the original foundations of the structure? 

 If we could, would we not, as in so many other cases, come 

 back to Babylonia and the monuments? 



Bibliography. 



Noldeke's Mauddische Grammatik, Halle, 1875. 



Captain Prideaux's Sketch of a Sabean Grammar^ Trans. Bib. Arch. Soc, 



vol. V. 

 Ainswortli's Euphrates Expedition (1888), vol. ii. 

 Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. xv, p. 470 seq. 

 Dr. W. Bi'audt's Mandiiische Geschriffen, 1895. 

 " A Prayer Meeting of the Star Worshipiiers," Anon. London Standard, 



October 19tli, 1894. 

 V. Cuinet's La Turcpde d^Asie., 1893 (fascicule 8). 

 Sale's Koran, " Introduction." 

 Kessler's Ueber Gnosis u. altbahylonische Religion (1882), Abhand. d. 



filnften inter. Orient. Cong.., Berlin. 

 Narratio originis rituuni et errorum Ch., S. Joannis. Rome, 1652. 

 LioufK, Etudes sur la Religion des Soubbas. Paris, 1880. 

 Codex Sidra Rabba et al. Paris and Oxford. 

 Wolfe's Travels in Arabia and Syria, vol. ii, 1823. 



